The criticism is becoming another type of populism. While the conventional populism flatters either working class or falling middle class, this populism flatters bond holders, or financial gamblers in this recent huge bond bubble where some even issue century bonds. The two types of populism collide with each other, but both are hostile to moderates.

The government, in fear of both, has in any way to take some time to build up a public consensus for austerity on one hand while it needs to hurry austerity to meet demands from those intimidating financial gamblers on the other hand. The worst scenario for the Polish economy and society is that the government should flatter either of them to eventually lose against the other in elections.

The Nolan chart suggests that a tentative method for a breakthrough may be that the LibDems (i.e. moderates), Civic Platform, should have an academic and political talk with the SocDems as Germans often do it so that SocDems will understand the status quo in which any government would face this same apparent dilemma concerning the two different populisms in such economic conditions.

The LibDems and SocDems need not form a coalition but could expect an out-of-cabinet cooperative relationship, a kind of solidarity, against populists under the current electoral system in Poland. (The cooperation would not be impossible if the system was a single-seat constituency system). By doing this, the charms of both populists (i.e. conventional populists and tea libertarians) will diminish. Mr Napieralski might be flexible enough to give priority to utility rather than ideology.

===

Quote: ‘For instance, from 2011 teachers in Poland will get a raise, but the higher wages will be financed by local governments without any central government help. This, in turn, will leave less money in the coffers of local governments to finance infrastructural projects that are supposed to transform Poland.”’

This represents how the critics think: They proceed with argument without conditions on which the local administration will not exercise autonomy to raise local taxes. Politicians would prefer issuing bonds without any regulations on it, but with ones they need to decide either to raise tax to go on with the infrastructure projects to allure investments for production and development or to cut budgets for the projects to stay behind other regions. What the government is going to do, whether aware or not, appears to me to be to introduce the principle of competition and entrepreneurship into local governments.

Quote: ‘This government’s adversity to change is also visible in Poland’s energy sector, the economists said, pointing to the government supporting renationalization and building state monopolies — all under the label of “privatization.”’

This also represents how the critics think. They demand privatization for the sake of it, in a short-circuit belief that any form of competition will improve development. In my view, that is like putting the cart before the horses: They are forgetting what privatisation is for in the first place, without rightly recognising what competitions are there in practice. First of all, privatisation is to introduce the principle of competition, by letting in plural players in each market. However, when it comes to enterprises that run infrastructure, the competition is not within the economy but Europe-wide and worldwide: The state economy as a whole is competing with the others within the single market of Europe, in which every state is competing for both alluring corporate investments and keeping labour competitiveness, which needs an integrated strategic development by government initiative in which each of the central and local governments has to behave like a business enterprise on a general consensus for it. Their autonomous discretion is indeed strictly regulated by the European and other international laws, but it is certainly ridiculous for them to voluntarily bind themselves to reduce the discretion outside the borders of the regulations.

===

Quote: ‘Such policy may help the party win next year’s election, of course. But what for, ask the economists.’

Thus I have explained what for. Proud to be a moderatism supporter.

9:46 am November 5, 2010

Hevelius wrote:

Jan,

your tireless dedication to the PO cause is admirable but your Orwellian attempt to switch roles and apply the label Populist to people like Balcerowicz is too ridiculous for words.

The rest of what you've written is just threadbare PR worthy of a loyal party hack. No statistics at all - just pure waffle.

8:40 pm November 5, 2010

Jan wrote:

@Hevelius

The comment dated 8:42 pm November 5, 2010 is mine. I somehow deleted my pseudonym by mistake just before I posted.

8:42 pm November 5, 2010

Anonymous wrote:

@Hevelius

It is not Mr Balcerowicz but those who support his remarks that are what I call new populists. Please don’t misinterpret.

They are either businesspeople or individuals who hurryingly demand deregulations and big tax cuts. They just want to make money straight and tend to ignore social costs that will burden them in the long run. (If anything happens in the future they will simply flee from Poland, leaving what they regard as losers. The phenomenon actually happened in Argentina and South Korea in 1997. It is a result of social segregation between those who can earn and who somehow cannot).

What these people aim at is totally different from what Mr Balcerowicz and other pundits like Messrs Gronicki and Hausner aim at. The touchstone which tells these people from Mr Balcerowicz is the stance on monetary policy: While Mr Balcerowicz is and will certainly be hawkish both on fiscal and monetary policy, these people will as certainly demand a tight fiscal policy and loose monetary policy at the same time as things evolve, which please do never forget. The pundits are being supported by financial gamblers these days: Such a phenomenon is historically quite common whenever politics becomes increasingly chaotic, driving the social segregation only to benefit conventional populists. Mr Tusk must be well aware of it as he is a historian who studied the interwar era.

10:26 pm November 5, 2010

Jan wrote:

Correction of my post dated 9:20 pm November 4, 2010.

In the 4th paragraph:
(The cooperation would not be impossible if the system was a single-seat constituency system). -->
(The cooperation would be less likely if the system was a single-seat constituency system).

1:11 pm November 6, 2010

Jeremi Wisniowiecki wrote:

jan you are the Po and SLD post comunism elyta boy, the jews and the balcerowicz mazowiecki - Icek and Szechter Michnik populist.
Go to states learn ecoonomy, yours country due to Balcerowicz Plan - read plan without vision bancrupted poland just 20 years after Solidarity, but not a revolution Solidarity Jews , Church Deal.
Se elyta and propaganda of Po boy Balcerowicz plan is not plan for steady growth and development.
Balcerowicz plan f up this country becouse , the deal was not to develop it , why??
Poland plan was to create unemployment and immigration, maybe such an populits an cenzor against the true it is ggod to write bullshit - you will get paid for it well:P.

An example off a different way is South korea and Taiwan - not a balcerowicz plan.
Poland posess nothing just slaves - people without the future - this yours beloved party system dont have any plan how to grow any bussines - it is no anty planning what to do and how to get people off the benefit - o in poland they dont paid it to thier slaves:P.
In today poland cenzorship wchich you represents wery well something wrong about Balcerowicz is classified as a wrongdoing.

Poland had manufacturing, if you change production steadly not close it down then you can see a development - korea is a greate example, but you propably are living in polulistic northen part with elyta of lazy politicians whom get the money for thier parties, and Sztolcman constitution without any responsibility.

I would like to see what this Jan i dont mention surname coz it is well know:P will write if poland will bancrupt soon, this will be the solidarity elyta supervised by jes and ex comunnist a greate achivement go Bancrupt POLE and writhe something normaln not a piss of crap.

Have a wision of a country is a greate thing se what Jeremi Kniaz Wisnniowiecki wrote about poland it is true i dont want poland like that i dont want paid from my taxes of propaganda of suxcees , Jan goebels and Stalin they are proud of YOu, and Donald Kashebi Tusk and Pseudo President Komorowski - this bloke is like a fagot without any knowledge he ue to wiklipedia:p

Damm men you are psycho

8:19 pm November 9, 2010

Jan wrote:

@Jeremi Wisniowiecki

Any argument built up on wrong information is simply worthless. I am just pointing out the following two things and leaving:

1. After the 1997 Asian financial crisis, South Korea went through extremely tough fiscal and monetary austerities imposed by the International Monetary Fund, which was largely identical in vector to what Mr Balcerowicz, when he was the financial minister did in Poland as the Shock Remedy in the early 1990s on condition that Poland could be released from a huge chunk of its foreign debts by the goodwill of the then creditors. That is why the economic growth rebound rapidly during the following period. By the way, the rebound rather looks to have been overshooting today: While the public sector maintains a certain financial discipline, the equities of the private sector rely largely on foreign capitals today. For example, Samsung’s major shareholders are American investors; thus its financial foundation depends heavily on the financial circles in America.

2. Taiwan’s economy was rather shielded from the Asian financial crisis because of the extremely strict regulations it had long maintained on capital flows. This is largely identical in vector to what Mr Balcerowicz, when he was the governor of the NBP, did in Poland during the last decade to forestall a financial bubble. By the way, Taiwan has drastically deregulated the financial services since around 2001 only to let its private sector become like its counterpart in South Korea, but its equities rely on capitals from the mainland China more than South Korea's do.

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